Recent school year saw little academic recovery, new study finds

BY MATT BARNUM CHALKBEAT

ere’s been little, if any, progress making up large learning gaps that have emerged since the onset of the pandemic, according to a new analysis of data from the testing group NWEA.

In the 2022-23 school year, students learned at a similar or slower rate compared to a typical prepandemic school year, the analysis found. is left intact the substantial learning losses, which have barely budged since the spring of 2021.

NWEA o ers only one data point based on a subset of American students, and more data from other exams will be needed to produce a clearer picture of academic progress during this last school year. Still, NWEA’s analysis is a concerning indication that the steep learning losses seen since the pandemic have proven di cult to ameliorate and could have lasting consequences for students and the country. e results are “somber and sobering,” said NWEA researcher Karyn Lewis. “Whatever we’re doing, it’s not enough,” she said. “ e magnitude of the crisis is out of alignment with the scope and scale of the response and we need to do more.”

Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, NWEA, which develops and sells tests to schools, has been measuring students’ progress on math and reading exams in grades three through eight. By the spring of 2021 — according to NWEA and a string of other tests — the typical student was far behind where they would normally be. Test score gaps by race and family income, already yawning, had grown in many cases. is coincided with dramatic disruptions outside and inside schools, including